Additionally, the bouquets of ostrich feathers, also described as red, on the insteps of her shoes would have been extremely expensive in the times Of Mice and Men was set; and that Curley's wife not only wears them on her feet but in the middle of the 'Dust Bowl' expresses her desperate need for attention as she is willing to possibly ruin her best shoes in order to entice the ranchers, despite the fact that she has a husband. Not only is
Her finger nails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers.’ This opening quote tells us many things about how the character was initially introduced. She is described using the colour red many times in this opening quote. This suggests that she is a dangerous character who shouldn’t be played with, much as the colour implies and if you were to be involved with her, there could be consequences.
This perception is further emphasized by Curley’s Wife’s first appearance in the novel. Steinbeck shows that she can be trouble and perhaps danger when the “rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off”. Showing that something dark has entered the room. Her physical appearance of “full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made-up” as well as painted fingernails and elaborate hair, further builds up on our first thoughts of her. She also acts flirtatiously in front of the other ranch workers.
How is Curley’s wife presented and developed? The character we’ll be analysing in this essay derives from a book written by Steinbeck called ‘Of Mice and Men’. This book was written during the Great Depression in the 1930s and Steinbeck relates the life of the characters featured in the book to the life during that time of struggle. In this particular analysis, we’ll be focusing on Curley’s wife. When we first meet Curley’s wife, Steinbeck makes her appear very flirtatious and dangerously beautiful.
The author uses different adjectives to describe to the reader the appearance and personality of Curley’s wife. The fact that Steinbeck refers to her as “A girl” may show her immature desire for attention, and the fact that she wore mainly red symbolizes blood and danger which also hints to the reader that she is a mesmerizing but dangerous woman. Curley’s wife was “heavily made up” which suited the description that Candy gave to George – a tart. However, this may symbolize that she is wearing a mask and is not showing her true persona, and we find that later on in the novel she truly reveals herself to Lennie. This enforces the idea that unlike Lennie, she is a complex character in the novel.
She could be overly worried about her loneliness getting to her to where she would go as far as letting Lennie touch her. 34. Curley's wife allows Lennie to pet her hair, however Lennie gets too rough and this causes Curley's wife to scream. This freaks out Lennie and he covers her mouth to stop her from screaming, Lennie kills Curley's wife. This event relates to when Lennie crushed Curley's hand because Lennie couldn't figure out how to stop what is casuing him to panic in both events.
How does Steinbeck present Curley’s Wife in the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’? Steinbeck presents Curley’s Wife in the novel Of Mice and Men by pointing her out in a negative way; this is how most men would see women in the 1930s. She is judged on her appearance and the way she presents herself to other characters on the ranch. Curley’s Wife is described on how she looks; she is described as wearing red, which shows a symbol of danger. By wearing the red throughout this relates to how she always dreamed of being in the movies and fulfilling her dreams.
The physical description which follows underlines how out of touch she is with the male world of the ranch. She is “heavily made up” whilst the “little bouquets of red ostrich feathers” seem almost laughably inappropriate. The repetition of red – which is a colour associated with passion and danger – is an early indication of Curley’s wife flirtatious character. This is an impression underlined by her body language as she leans against the door “so that her body was thrown forward” and by the fact that she speaks “playfully” in response to George who has just “brusquely” retorted: “Well he ain’t
She tries to be reasonable, saying, "Why, worthy thane, / You do unbend your | |noble strength, to think / So brainsickly of things" (2.2.41-43), but he's paralyzed with horror. Finally, she has to do what he should | |have done. She takes the daggers from him, carries them back to place them with the grooms, and smears the grooms with the King's blood. | |When she returns, Lady Macbeth hears Macbeth talking about his bloody hands, and she comments, "My hands are of your colour; but I shame / | |To wear a heart so white" (2.2.61-62). She means that her hands are red, too (because she has been busy smearing the King's blood on the | |grooms), but that she would be ashamed to have a heart as white as Macbeth's.
‘She had full rouged lips and wide spaced eyes, heavily made up,’ which suggests that the author wanted us to presume the worst of her before she’d even spoken and we set ourselves up for her to be a character we feel a lot of resentment for. The fact that her ‘finger nails were red,’ along with ‘red mules’ and ‘red ostrich feathers’ shows us how Steinbeck’s use of colour goes well alongside her sexual appeal. The colour red is used in two ways. One is a strong representation of love or a form of attraction, the other is the inner appeal of sexual preference and seduction. The intention of making the reader perceive her early on as a ‘tart’ foreshadows that something later is going to happen and there could be trouble.